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Books with the power to move readers are the result of artistry, craft and intellectual pursuits. Because it is a fundamentally creative industry, publishing has sometimes valued expertise, ingenuity and inspiration over data. Today, though, the publishing industry is awash with data. Data can offer valuable insights to help publishers connect...

Julie Trelstad is the director of digital rights at the literary agency Writers House, where she manages the agency’s self-publishing program and helps clients with online marketing. She previously held positions at John Wiley & Sons, The Taunton Press, Readers Digest and Sterling Publishing, and started her own publishing venture, The Plain...

When I ask new email subscribers to tell me their number one book marketing challenge, the answer is overwhelmingly the conundrum that is social media: it takes too much time, and the results are difficult to measure. I agree. Without a solid understanding of how social media does and doesn’t work,...

I’ve worked in the world of books for over a decade, mostly in marketing, from major houses like Wiley and FSG to Amazon to my current role at the start-up Inkshares, where I’m VP of Marketing & Operations. I’ve worked with hundreds of authors and have even been a part of...

Earlier this week, CNET published the first installment of a new scifi novel, Crowd Control: Heaven Makes a Killing. What makes the work unique is that it was crowdsourced exclusively through CNET readers, and is, according to CNET, the world’s first massively multiwriter online science fiction novel. In October 2015, CNET...

Most featured publishers in this series have some sort of niche. Indeed, many smaller publishing houses around the world benefit from a narrower focus than the big guys do, picking up enthusiasts in very specific areas of interest. And the interest area of today’s featured publisher isn’t for everyone, that’s for...

Kobo announced today that it has partnered with D&R, Turkey’s largest book and media retailer, to bring its e-reading platform and devices to the country. Full press release below: RAKUTEN KOBO PARTNERS WITH RETAILER D&R TO BRING WORLD-CLASS EREADING SERVICE TO READERS IN TURKEY Partnership offers a full-service digital reading experience powered...

If you have been doing ebook development for any amount of time, you have heard a lot about XML workflows. These conversations, sometimes in hushed tones of trepidation and other times in hopeful anticipation, usually tend to end in the conclusion that an XML workflow is just not possible, is too...

Kobo announced Wednesday the expansion of its Kobo Writing Life services for self-published authors, which include cover design, ebook conversion and copyrighting. Full press release below: Kobo Writing Life Tool Kit Helps Self-Published Authors Cross the Finish Line Author access to advantageous pricing on a variety of publishing services TORONTO, April 13,...

While larger publishers continue to play a major role in shaping our industry, it is the smaller independent publishing houses that are pushing the boundaries more than ever. Many critics suggest that the heavyweights have become risk-averse, focusing instead on sure-fire wins, such as sequels and established authors. What’s more, some...

The publishing industry is more than 400 years old. To put that timeframe into context, in the UK, when the first printing press was developed, in 1634, Charles I was king shortly before being overthrown. Much has happened since then, and there is much to be proud of in what this...

Digital has signaled the end of print publishing, has it not? This is what we’ve heard every year since what feels like the dawn of time. But while traditional publishing is certainly challenged by the digital revolution and changing consumer habits, there is actually a huge opportunity here, and the approach...

The days of toting heavy textbooks are gone for some Indiana University students, who have opted into the school’s digital learning program. Started in 2012, the IU program has saved students about $8 million by making electronic textbooks available. Students are able to access their texts, which run about $35, via...

“The United States has been at the forefront of digital publishing since the field’s inception,” writes Holger Volland, vice president of the Frankfurt Book Fair, in a blog post for Digital Book World. “And now, as digital is fully integrated into our daily publishing lives and the industry continues to expand...

“When you compare the online traffic of a news website against that of a publisher’s website, who do you think gets the most visitors?” DBW blogger Rob Eagar asks. “To almost no one’s surprise, it’s not even close: the news sites get much more traffic.” Both groups, though, create massive amounts...

[Press Release] KOBO AND ABA JOIN TOGETHER TO ENCOURAGE BOOKLOVERS TO EREAD LOCAL Program Enables Booklovers to Try Reading Digitally While Supporting Favorite Independent Bookstores Toronto, ON – August 24, 2015 – Kobo, a Rakuten company and leading innovator in the digital reading space, and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) today...

I recently received an email from a FlightDeck user who was wondering about some of the warning messages he was receiving in his EPUB file. The questions he asked touched on some important issues that I don’t think are commonly understood, so I thought it would be a good idea to...

Publishers are losing control over the curation of their content, Canelo’s Michael Bhasksar told attendees at IDPF’s Digital Book 2015 conference at BookExpo America yesterday. And readers themselves, Bhaskar said, are taking over. That’s leading publishers and retailers to rethink their marketing and discovery strategies in ways that play into readers...

Expanding its partnership with the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Kobo launches a program that rewards booksellers for getting customers to try ebooks. Called “eRead Local” and due to kick off later this summer, the initiative offers booksellers $5 for every new customer they drive to Kobo, plus a $5 credit for customers...

Like one of the main things it seeks to improve—discoverability—search engine optimization can be something of a moving target for publishers. Still, marketing experts like Murray Izenwasser and Peter McCarthy have shown there are ways to solve key pieces of the SEO puzzle without much technical expertise, time or investment. Now,...

In a deal announced yesterday, Kobo introduces an e-reading platform for Southwest Airlines passengers, the latest in a flurry of separate initiatives to put ebooks in closer reach of travelers. The platform offers approximately 140 free ebooks (a figure Kobo plans to grow), of which about 85% are full-text editions, while the remainder are samples of titles readers can buy after...

As the subscription model for ebooks evolves, authors and publishers are keeping a close eye on how much they earn from individual borrows on the leading platforms. Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s subscription-based program, continues to compensate authors at rates that have been widely criticized as too meager. But author and researcher Dana...

A new partnership brings a selection of more than twenty popular Penguin Random House ebooks to Amtrak’s Acela Express passengers. The commercial rail operator rolls out a new digital content platform where travelers can read free excerpts of the publisher’s titles, then purchase any of them with the click of a...

Unveiling its newest device, the Glo HD, Kobo makes a play for the top shelf of the e-reader market. Retailing for $70 less than Amazon’s premium e-reader, the Kindle Voyage, the Glo HD boasts comparable specs, including six-inch, 300 ppi E Ink touchscreen, 1GHz of processing power and approximately two months...

Kobo launches its latest e-reader today, the Kobo Glo HD, which it bills as a device featuring “the highest resolution screen available on the market, at the lowest price.” At $129.99, the device is $70 cheaper than the $199 Kindle Voyage, which Amazon rolled out in September last year. The Glo HD...

It’s difficult to fault publishers for focusing their production workflows around print content. For one thing, it’s a reflection of the current market. With ebook growth slowing down and print holding strong, “typesetting for print is still a primary skill-set publishers need to maintain,” says leading ebook developer Laura Brady. But...

The company that Kobo’s former head once called the “Amazon of Japan” significantly enlarges its ebook business by scooping up OverDrive in a $410 million deal announced yesterday. Acquiring the library distributor is Rakuten’s latest major push into the digital content space, one of three key growth areas the Japan-based company...

The Japan-based parent company of ebook retailer Kobo announces it will acquire OverDrive in a $410 million cash deal with Insight Venture Partners, OverDrive’s majority shareholder since 2010. A leading distributor of digital content in the library market, OverDrive “will take advantage of the global reach, scale and technologies throughout Rakuten’s portfolio,” according to a press release...

The total sum Amazon reserves for Kindle Unlimited authors is growing alongside the subscription program, which arrived in Mexico and Canada last week. But the size of the individual payouts authors receive every time their titles are borrowed isn’t keeping pace. Publishers Lunch puts that figure at nearly $1.38 for January,...

It depends who you ask. The recent success of the enhanced ebook edition of American Sniper–which has reportedly sold over 166,000 copies, besting its unenhanced analog in the iBooks Store–has some asking whether a winning formula has been found at last. Film adaptations are well understood to boost the performance of...

The e-commerce platform that recently helped Hachette sell ebooks on Twitter launches a mobile app for Android. Gumroad says its December pilot program with Hachette was a success, in one case allowing author and musician Amanda Palmer to sell 100 copies of her book within twenty minutes of tweeting a ‘buy’...

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